The way Donald Trump has behaved since his victory reminds me a bit of Michael Jackson.
It bugged me when people glossed over Jackson’s utter strangeness - marrying his plastic surgeon's employee as his broodmare, hanging out with underage male actors, being best buds with a monkey, evolving from an adorable boy into a whispering, pinch-nosed, middle-aged wax figurine, to name just a few - and simply focused on his talents as the King of Pop.
And I'm sensing some of that same "let's pretend he didn't say/do/tweet that" happening with Trump.
Ever since the election – yes, the one I was dead wrong about - it's been one "HUH?" Trump headline after another.
There are soooooo many to choose from, but one of my favs was the photo op with Trump and Kanye West.
Kanye, who had been acting erratic at his concerts and hospitalized for "severe exhaustion"(showbiz speak for psychiatric problems), met with Trump to discuss "multicultural issues" shortly after being released from the hospital.
Pardon me, is that what one does after being treated for an emotional breakdown, trot off to have your photo taken with the President-elect, whose calendar, by the way, should be crammed full with interviews for actual government positions? Kanye, please, skip the Trump Tower tete-a-tete and go see your shrink, it’ll be much more beneficial.
And how about Carl Paladino, who is "in contact with the Trump transition team" and is a close personal friend of the president-elect. Carl said he "hopes Obama catches mad cow disease" and that he hoped to see Michelle Obama "return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla."
Sure, the Trump transition team condemned his remarks - DUH - but would you hang out a guy who said those vile comments?
No thank you.
And did you hear that Trump wants the Energy Department to provide the names of employees who have been involved in climate talks or who helped advance Obama administration climate policies?
Hello, we have lists now?
And don’t forget that for his Vice President he selected a man who believes that being gay is a personal choice and thinks that preventing gays from marrying is an enforcement of “God’s idea.”
Good to know he’s on speaking terms with the Lord. Please tell him that I said hello.
Of course, you heard his latest tweet to Meryl Streep, the acclaimed star who had the audacity to call him out for his record of cruel, bullying rants. He called her “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood.”
You can almost HEAR the "nah nah nah nah nah nah" in his childish, braggadocios tone.
Doesn’t Trump get it that Americans can speak out against their elected officials? This ain’t Russia (yet) and he ain’t Putin, so Meryl and the rest of us have the freedom to say what we like without being ostracized to Siberia (yet).
And speaking of shirtless old guys who think they look like Fabio sitting atop a horse, in a recent interview, Vladimir Putin told American Democrats that "you have to know how to lose with dignity."
Well, I'll tell ya what, Vlad, when I see some dignity in one of your pal Trump’s infamous, "mean girl" tweets, I'll try to lose with it.
So while I might be a lousy soothsayer – again, I was wrong, wrong, wrong about the election, even though three mill more Americans voted for Hills than for Trump - I'm sticking with my gut fear and repeating a line that my Mother used whenever someone gave her the heebie jeebies:
The man is s-t-r-a-n-g-e.
You can rationalize and politicize his actions from now until inauguration day, but he's still a scary-strange dude.
If I'm wrong again, I'll take it like a woman.
But until then, God Help America.